patch notes
0.53.0

Gameplay

Adjustments & Improvements:

• Improvements to behaviour of cameras when switching between different camera views.
• Improvements to ball bounce and spin physics.
• Improvements to Stand Tackles by reducing the lunge speed for all stat ranges. Also tied the lunge speed to the stat, so the tackle outcome is better telegraphed.
• Removed dispersion from driven passes, and instead penalise the receiver's trapping control.
• Improvements to responsiveness when executing passes or shots shortly after trapping the ball.
• Defenders now lock on more aggressively inside their own box, which makes it easier to defend passes and low crosses inside the penalty area.
• Removed time limit to consider an assist, so now assists for Challenges can be counted regardless of how long the scorer retains the ball for.
• Improved movement behaviour for Second Player Press.
• If there is space and time for it, ball receivers will now favour volleys in comparison to headers
• When L1 Switching, we no longer guarantee a switch to the Second Player Presser if there is one pressing.
• Improvements to ground pass targeting to improve passing fluidity by maintaining more of the receiver's speed when possible.
• Maintain movement input for a short time when switching to an AI character which is already marking an opponent's run.
• Added some more natural turning behaviour for throw in takers.
• Reduced the distance a player stumbles after being tackled.
• Improved goalkeeper's ability to save low shots.

Design Adjustments:

• Increased the cooldown after trapping a driven passes
• Added a small recovery after trapping a driven pass
• Removed dispersion for driven passes
• Added dispersion when playing a first-time driven pass while receiving a driven pass
• Updates to ball physics
• Adjustments to spin for curved shots following the ball physics changes
• Adjusted min/max shot power and min/max first-time shot power for all shot types following the ball physics changes.
• Added contextual logic to ground passes, allowing passes to be played in front of the receiver in the attacking direction when they are moving at speed and there is open space.

Animations:

• Further dribbling improvements to match new dribble cycles when changing direction, etc.
• Improved player signaling.
• Upgrades to standing tackles for the offensive and defensive players.
• More updated shots in forward and 45° angles, offering more "pizzaz", power, and settling action.
• Many animation fixes, most notably character orientation/rotation.

UI/UX/Audio & Quality of Life:

New Gamemode select screen New and improved store visuals

• Updated store item visuals.
• New pack designs.
• Updated backgrounds.

Audio:

• Big update to the crowd sounds, providing more energy, whistling, chanting and drumming.
• Penalty Kick system refinements.

Core:

Low End Focus:

• Only use Shader Model 5 on Low end builds.
• Remove user settings that doesn't work on SM5.
• Optimized memory usage on Low end.
• Refactored character portrait generation to not take as much memory.
• SENTEC Game Server performance optimization.
• Shader material quality improvements.

Art:

• Added new grass shader.
• Added new ball.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed issue where the angle of the pass wasn't correctly affecting the pass speed.
• Fixed issue where pass accuracy would display incorrectly in the Match Facts screen.
• Fixed issue where defenders would sometimes not run back during an opponent's freekick.
• Fixed issue where offside players were not being correctly unfavoured by the pass selection system.
• Fixed issue where through passes were not being clamped to the correct minimum or maximum speed.
• Fixed action bar not showing in "Your packs" screen when entering with gamepad.